Ukraine faces Gazprom deadline for gas debt

May 7th marks the deadline for Gazprom's warning to the new Ukrainian authorities. If Ukraine fails to repay its debt to the supplier (Gazprom), the condition of advance payment will take effect from June. However, the parties managed to find a common intersection in gas prices between Russia and the IMF.

Experts believe that Ukraine will not repay the debt. Most likely, Kiev, which does not agree with the prices on the Russian gas, will not repay the debt on time, and Russia will switch its gas deals with Ukraine on the prepayment basis starting from June 2014.

Gas supplies to Ukraine will be based on 100-percent prepayment, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said at the end of last week, following the results of inconclusive gas talks between Russia, Ukraine and the EU.

He later specified that if Ukraine does not pay for its April gas delivered before May 7, then on May 16, Gazprom will issue a provisional invoice for gas supplies in June. In this case, the amount of gas that Ukraine will receive in June will be equal to the amount that it will pay for.

Meanwhile, Russia and the West found a compromise in setting the future cost of gas for Ukraine. The International Monetary Fund believes that Kiev will receive gas this year at average European price of 380 dollars per thousand cubic meters. This amount was laid the foundation of the lending program for the country in the amount of 17 billion dollars, the Kommersant wrote.

On May 7th, Ukraine received the first tranche of $3 billion from the IMF.

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